Slashdot Mirror
Theater Morphing Into Multi-Player Gaming Arena
J3zmund writes "This article highlights the attempt by ESports Arena to bring gaming to the masses. They're building what looks like a command center with gaming equipment, comfy chairs, and big screens to follow the action. For the price of a movie, patrons can frag to their hearts' content for 2 hours (extra time available, of course). This could sprawn some interesting events (once gaming goes beyond 'kill'). With The Sims ready to go online this month, it could open this up to a much larger audience than the "young males" they currently identify. How 'bout some Sim Rocky Horror Online Saturday nights..."
Thousands of nerds...one big room... Glad I won't be there to smell it.
"The whole LAN party scene has been kind of like a geeky cult thing," he said. "These guys are making it more mainstream."
They make the article sound like only total geeks and kids go to lan parties..wtf I originally lived in wa state and found lan parties all over..not everyone was geeks or zit faced teenagers... There are alot of mid 30's-40's adults that attend the lans Ive gone to. I recently moved to arizona this summer and got a job at office max. Turns out they hold a monthly lan with all of the employees and its a blast. Some of these guys barely know how to operate their computer but they enjoy lanning. Welcome to the new age of entertainment...its been around for a while.
.[[erax0r]].
That they offer play to the multiplayer version of Barbie Fashion designer.
My little sad piece of the internet: www.mtndewd
" I think the best way to get mass market appeal in a setting like this is to add head-to-head Tetris, chess, or checkers to the menu. Girls LOVE Tetris."
You do realize that games like Counterstrike and Quake already have mass market appeal, right? Heh.
Girls only make up half of the population, we don't need them.
>> Now, with a video game, why would I pay $10 (or whatever) to play with the same kind of setup I have at home?
Because 10 of your friends can go with you, and you can all play. No waiting for the next lan party.
>> This isn't an arcade where one game is a quarter
No it isnt. Arcades are dead. Arcades are, for all intents and purposes, a singleplayer experience. The handful of head-to-head games don't count.
I can see a market for a place to kill a couple hours playing Halo with some friends, without all the hassle of setting it up yourself.
Throw in a few tourneys, a few prizes.. They could make a go of it.
>> With going to a movie theater, I can understand paying that price because I can watch a good movie on a huge screen with great sound.
You been to the movies lately? Huge screen, sure. Great sound? Unless you like the sound of some assholes cell phone and wanna-be smartass 13 year olds. Good movies indeed. -1 troll for you!
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
...some people will pay admission, drop a vat of popcorn over the keyboard, idly look at the screen, speak loudly to their neighbor during the whole game, and then leave saying the movie sucked on their cellphones... ^^
The ENIAC Demo Competition
Well, that's true, I guess you could consider Slashdot to be a mass market. But I bet you a "Deer Hunter Cyber Cafe" would do well in Tenessee, and a "Dance Dance Barbie" kiosk would work great next to The Gap.
You know, you should try intercourse and then check back with me on that.
Kill Trolls Dead. Here's
Think of it this way... You're sitting in a comfy leather chair in an air conditioned arena. The replay of you bringing in the winning flag-capture is flashing on one of the giant screens at the front of the arena. A waiter/watress brings you the vat of scotch you ordered, and you slowly nurse it whilst clamoring with your local clanmates as you ready for the next match...
It'd be like going to the clubs, only slightly better in that no obnoxious idiots would look at you funny for just sitting at the bar soaking in the scenes and sounds.
This will only be really successful if they can make the gaming experience people get at home better. They have to offer things like cigars, drinks (free refils on sodas), snacks, and whatnot. Furthermore, if they REALLY want the bucks from the men of that age bracket, have cute women be the waitresses. Think about it. What horny male gamer 21+ wouldn't like to game in a big comfy chair while an attractive woman brings them drinks and their success is trumpeted to all there? I'd be there in a heartbeat.
Without the ammeneties though, say it's just a movie theater converted to an arena for gaming, and all they do for you is give you a terminal and some time. That will fail. There has to be a draw.
----- I want my LART.
I've found that most women have some inate ability to completely rock at fighting games. It's gotta be genetic. I've been at parties where a guy with 100 hours of street fighter under his belt loses to someone's girlfriend who has never played.
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
Gaming environments such as these will rely on having better and more hardware than home users have. How will this affect their business model when they have to upgrade their hardware every 6 months to be able to play the newest games? Also, will they be buying 20 to 30 licenses of every game that comes out that is heavily played? I am interested in the cost of sustaining such a complex focused at gaming.
I do security
Scary huh? Worse than "has never played", has never touched a PS2. Worse yet, she proceeds to kick the next guy's ass. And the next (who complains it's the controller's fault). And then, after switching controllers and opponents, loses the first match, wins the second, and ties (two swordthrusts both connect at the exact same instant) the third. I didn't think you *could* tie in that game. We don't let her play anymore.
High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
It's a LAN party, they'll all be virgins.
Happy Noodle Boy says "F###ing doughnut! Mock me? You fried cyclops!!"
I've actually noticed this phenomenon as well, and I don't think it has anything to do with guys "letting her win". Give the girl some credit! I think that first of all it's just that girls play the game in a different style from guys who've been playing forever, throwing off their rhythm. Also, the guy may be ..."distracted" by playing a girl as well, even if he's not letting her win. Besides, I imagine the beginner's button mashing approach is nearly as effective as a skilled player when said skilled player is drunk ;)
For the price of a movie ticket, I can rent two games, keep them all week, and play them alone in my living room.
Since I generally hate people who are unlike me, this works out fine, and it's how I watch all my movies.
But every once in a while, it'd be nice to head down to the local LAN party, hang out with people who are enough like me that I don't hate them too much, pick up a few games of whatever in an atmosphere of [cameraderie|easy-going competion|blind fury], and then roll on back home.
Hell, I used to go to the cinema once or twice a week, back before everybody and their asshole started taking calls during the movie. Swap out "movie" for "LAN party", and I guarantee you that two hours there would be worth two games alone at home for a week.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.